


Peroxide Princess

by Kamikaze2007



Category: Dangan Ronpa - All Media Types, New Dangan Ronpa V3: Everyone's New Semester of Killing
Genre: Alternate Universe - Medieval, Eloping, F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-27
Updated: 2020-07-27
Packaged: 2021-03-06 00:21:26
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,526
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25554241
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Kamikaze2007/pseuds/Kamikaze2007
Summary: Arranged marriages are a bitch, and Kaede's going to do something about hers. Written for the Saimatsu Christmas in July exchange.
Relationships: Akamatsu Kaede/Saihara Shuichi
Kudos: 46





	Peroxide Princess

**Author's Note:**

  * For [forest_does_a_thing](https://archiveofourown.org/users/forest_does_a_thing/gifts).



“Are you sure you’ll be okay on your own, milady?”

As she stepped out of the carriage and made sure the hooded cloak was adequately hiding her face and hair, she shushed the driver harshly. “Don’t be so loud. And I’ll be fine. I’m merely visiting a friend from my family’s estate. I know my way around here.”

The man at the reigns shrugged. “Alright. I bid you adieu.”

“Adieu,” Kaede responded with a smile. As soon as the cart was no longer in her sight, her face fell and she grumbled, “dirtbag.” She turned and made a dash in the opposite direction of her parents’ land. For nearly an hour, she ducked and weaved through side streets and markets as she made her way to her destination. She finally arrived at a run down, ramshackle tavern that looked like the last place a member of the nobility like her should be bothering herself with. However, the welcoming sight of the storefront brought a smile to her face, as she knew who was waiting for her inside. She gently pushed the door open, and aside from a few heads that turned to make sure nobody important was passing through, business remained as normal.

If only they knew how important this regular patron was.

The tavern master knew, of course, and for the small price of a few extra coins, he would gladly keep it a secret from those who would wish a princess harm. As she walked in, he gave her a knowing look and nodded at her usual table, where the other person who knew her secret sat.

She put on a stony face as she stood in front of the man with the ragged, old black hat but otherwise tidy clothing. “Detective Saihara,” she greeted, snapping him out of whatever daze he was in.

He flinched and sat up straight, hand snatching his hat off his head and placing it on the table. When their eyes met, any attempt to be serious melted away. Shuichi jumped to his feet and took Kaede in a tight embrace, the kind she came to fall so hard in love with. “Oh, I’m so glad you made it here safe,” he whispered in her ear. They shared a kiss before separating and taking their seats at the table. “Did you run into any problems?” He asked.

Kaede shook her head. “As per the usual, he didn’t even ask where I was going.”

“That’s a relief,” Shuichi said with a sigh. “No matter how many times we do this, I can never shake the anxiety that something’s going to go wrong.”

Kaede shook her head and placed her right hand on the table, letting him lace his fingers between hers. “You know I’m more sly than that,” she said with a giggle. “He never suspects a thing.”

Shuichi gazed longingly at her hand, making sure her long, slender fingers still matched up with the last time he memorized what they looked like. “Yeah...”

“Well, shall we get going?” Kaede asked.

Again shaken out of a daze, Shuichi looked unsure. “Wouldn’t you like a drink first?”

“No, I’m really excited to spend some quality alone time with you,” Kaede said, squeezing his hand tighter.

He blushed, giving a nervous chuckle before taking a stand. “R-right, let’s.”

The couple left the tavern without buying anything—much to the owner’s chagrin—and made a beeline for Shuichi’s house. It was far less impressive than the opulent palace Kaede currently called home, but the fact that her true beloved lived there was more than enough to make it heaven on Earth for her.

As soon as they arrived, she eagerly flung her cloak off. “Finally, I can take this stuffy rag off,” she sighed, letting it fall to the ground to reveal her flashy, royal purple gown.

“That stuffy rag is all a lot of us have,” Shuichi reminded her as he made sure his door was locked and all of his windows were closed.

“Oh, it’s not the rag itself, I assure you,” Kaede said, running a hand through her long, blonde hair to make sure it at least looked presentable. “It’s all this that I have to wear under it. If you had to wear three layers any time you weren’t in your private quarters, you’d hate all of them equally, too.”

“Of course,” Shuichi said. He had a distinct feeling that he should be bowing at the very sight of her, but he had the privilege of knowing her on a personal level better than anyone on the planet, which made him the exception to the rule. Still, that wasn’t going to stop him from teasing her about it. “You must forgive me for being so forward, your majesty,” he said, dropping to his knees, grabbing her wrist and giving the back of her hand a light kiss.

Kaede rolled her eyes, but left her hand in his. “Now don’t you get started, Shuichi.”

Shuichi didn’t respond, which caused Kaede to raise her eyebrow after a moment. “Shuichi? Isn’t this the part where you—“

“It’s beautiful.”

Not used to being interrupted, Kaede shook her head. “What?”

The pointer finger on Shuichi’s free hand landed lightly on her ring finger, tracing the giant, gaudy diamond ring on it like it was liable to snap in half. “Your ring. It’s gorgeous.”

“I suppose,” Kaede huffed.

The expression on Shuichi’s face was dour. “Does your husband even know what it looks like in the sun’s light?”

Kaede was silent at first, but judging by Shuichi’s expression, it seemed to be a question that begged an answer. “I wouldn’t count on it,” she said quietly.

“Of course he doesn’t,” Shuichi scoffed, letting go of her hand and standing up straight. “He doesn’t know a thing about you, Kaede! It’s...it’s not fair!”

She sighed; this exchange was growing more common as time went by. “That’s arranged marriages for you,” she said. “My parents are people with influence who want a connection to the throne, so my hand was offered up to the prince as a bargaining chip.”

He seemed infuriated by this, but he took a deep breath to calm himself. “I know...but no matter how many times I hear it, it will never get any better. They took you away from everything you loved! They took you away from me.”

Their eyes met, and upon seeing his eyes well up with tears, she could feel her own start to water. She grabbed him into a hug and held him close, which was a sensation she could only feel with him. “I’m sorry, Shuichi. But I still make time for you, so it’s not all bad.”

He wrapped his arms around her, sending her heart racing. “You won’t get away with it forever.”

“Hey, let’s not think too much about the future,” Kaede said, moving away just enough to look him in the eye again. “We’ll just drive ourselves mad. For now, let us savor the time we have with each other.”

Shuichi started to protest, but as soon as their lips met, he was silent.

The subject was dropped until the sun had long since set, when Shuichi brought it up again as they were preparing for bed. “Do you remember the last time you visited me, Kaede?”

She shook her head. Sure, she hadn’t been able to make as much time for him lately, but these visits were still frequent enough that any one never stood out. “Can’t say I do, why?”

“Didn’t think you would,” he said. “You weren’t even fully awake for it.”

Kaede looked at him with a raised eyebrow, the fading sun through the window barely illuminating his face—and coincidentally glimmering off her wedding band enough to give it a brilliant shine. “Awake for...what?”

“You had a night terror last time you were here,” he explained. “You were crying and thrashing about in your sleep. You said something about...him.”

Kaede didn’t need to ask who she might have been talking about, because she could see Shuichi’s eyes flicker to her decorated left hand. “I see...”

“He doesn’t treat you right,” Shuichi continued. “You said it yourself.”

“It’s not like he hurts me or anything,” Kaede assured him. “He just...leaves me to my own devices. That is, until he needs to look good at a ball or something.”

“How lonely are you when you’re in that castle?”

The question was a lot more difficult to answer than she anticipated. Just the idea of standing in front of its menacing gates and peering up at the cold, stone walls sent chills down her spine, because she knew that behind them was an even colder interior. Thinking about spending weeks upon weeks all alone in her lavishly decorated quarters felt like a weight pressing down on her chest. Finally, she managed to work through the crushing anxiety and shook her head. “Doesn’t matter. You know why? Because I won’t be alone when we’re with your friends tomorrow!”

Shuichi let out a weak chuckle. “Clever,” he said.

Kaede smiled and let herself fall into his bed. She slipped the ring off her finger and placed it on his bedside table. “Now let’s get some sleep so we’re not too tired for that.”

Shuichi stood by the bed, staring off into the distance like he was lost in thought about something.

After a moment of silence, Kaede let out a high-pitched whine. “Please, Shuichi? I would feel terribly lonely if I couldn’t sleep next to you tonight of all nights.”

He couldn’t very well argue against that after the question he asked, so he obliged.

That night, as they slept with the thoughts of the uninviting castle on their minds, Kaede held him closer than she ever had before.

However, it didn’t stop that imposing building from haunting her dreams.

Several different versions of her future flashed through her mind that night. Each one was more distressing than the last, and every single one involved her having to permanently say goodbye to Shuichi in some way or another. Faced with any number of unbearable futures, it was a wonder she slept at all.

When she awoke the next morning, Shuichi was already getting ready for the day. “Did you sleep alright?” She asked, sitting up and rubbing at her eyes.

“Yeah,” he said quickly. “But you didn’t.”

Kaede sighed. “Yeah...I suppose I didn’t.”

Shuichi turned to see she hadn’t moved from her spot. “Are you going to get ready?”

She took a minute to speak, but when she did, she spoke softly. “I need to go to the castle.”

Shuichi raised an eyebrow. “Excuse me?”

Suddenly, Kaede shot to her feet and snatched her ring off the nightstand, not bothering to put it on. “I’m going home,” she announced.

“What?”

“I’ve decided.” Kaede marched over to Shuichi and grabbed his shoulders. “I can’t do this anymore. Visiting you in secret, living a life I don’t want to live, it’s...” Her voice broke and she had to hold back a sob. “It’s torture!”

Shuichi’s face was going through every emotion on the spectrum. “I don’t...”

“Let’s run away,” Kaede said quickly. “Just me and you, together. As far away from here as we can get. A whole new kingdom, hell, a whole new world if we need to.”

Startled by her sudden determined attitude, Shuichi stammered out several half-words and incomplete thoughts, finally landing on, “but didn’t you just say you were going back?”

A devious smile crossed her face. “I’m going back to pack my things. Come meet me in front of the castle tonight.”

“Um...we were supposed to meet with Kaito and Maki today.”

Kaede’s smile disappeared and she let out a defeated sigh. “Right. I...guess we can wait a little longer.”

Seeing the look of dread on her face awakened a similar feeling in Shuichi. If he didn’t go along with her plan now, she was never going to be bold enough to suggest it again, and who knew what path her life would take from there? “Fine,” he finally said. “Go. I’ll go say farewell and tell them you said hi.”

Her eyes lit up again and she threw her arms around him, bringing him close for a kiss. Finally, she pushed back. “There will be plenty of time for kissing after we’re gone. Now go!”

It was a longer ordeal to get herself back to the castle than she thought it was going to be, but as she entered her extravagantly decorated living quarters to see the sun setting out the window, she realized it was fine, since she didn’t have much she felt she needed to pack. A few changes of clothes that didn’t make her look too much like royalty were a must, but aside from that, all she took with her was a hair brush from home and a small flute she used to make music when the grand piano wasn’t available to her. She spent most of the time in her room debating over leaving her ring on the pillow as a parting gift or keeping it with her out of spite.

Finally, she shook herself out of her indecision and dashed out. She knew the schedules of the night guards by heart, so avoiding them was simple. She reached the castle gates just in time to see a horse trot up to them, a clumsy rider struggling to keep balance on top of it.

“Oh, stealing the princess away on horseback?” Kaede asked as she stopped at the beast’s side. “How romantic.”

“Thanks,” Shuichi said, audibly strained to stay on the saddle.

“I...didn’t think you owned a horse,” Kaede said.

He shrugged. “Kaito gave it to me when I told him out plan.”

“What a nice parting gift,” she said with a laugh. “Now let me ride up front. I actually know how to ride a horse.”

“Oh, thank god,” Shuichi sighed, more than happy to let her sit in front of him.

As they galloped out of the peaceful, sleepy city, Shuichi noticed the moonlight gleam off Kaede’s wedding band. “You...brought that with you?” He asked.

“Yeah,” Kaede said, yelling to be heard over the galloping hooves. “Figured I could sell it for a good amount somewhere. It’ll never make its way back to him, and even if it does, I doubt he’ll remember what it even looks like.”

She was right, and honestly, it was a relief to know they had some sort of funds for this crazy, last minute journey they’d embarked on.

By the time anyone at the castle noticed Kaede was missing, it was far too late. Searches around and outside the city turned up nothing, and the Akamatsu family was promptly stripped of any clout they had in regards to having connections to royalty. Servants in the castle would always remember the day the queen-to-be ran away, if only by the sheer apathy on the prince’s face of learning about her disappearance.

Conversely, Kaede and Shuichi would always remember that day as the day their lives truly began.


End file.
